Last summer, when The National Portrait Gallery reopened its doors to the public, I was immensely excited to visit. It would be my first visit to the museum since starting my History of Art degree, and so I felt I might be able to appreciate some of the art more than previous visits.
I eagerly awaited my friend’s arrival on the steps to the portrait gallery, eyeing Tracey Emin’s Doors. I had seen pictures, and knew how beautiful they were; but nothing could have prepared me for how much I would love them. Inspired by Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise, which I had learnt a lot about through Renaissance studies, The Doors show large portraits in a 3 across and 5 down format, across 3 doors. In total, there are 45 portraits of women, done in Emin’s loose style with fine lines in which she creates individualistic representations, yet remaining an impersonality – the women could be anyone. Emin intentionally allowed the portraits to be any woman, stating:
“Women in history are greatly underrepresented. I didn’t want to depict specific or identifiable figures. I felt like the doors of the National Portrait Gallery should represent every woman, every age and every culture throughout time. I used myself as a mental template, but the end result is many different women, some that exist in my mind and some that perhaps exist in reality here and now, as well as from the past.”
Through the anonymity of the female subjects, Emin invites a feminist reading for each visitor, letting the women serve as reminders for the male-dominated art industry, and the History of Art. The female subjects are like guards to the museum, constantly reinforcing the inclusion of women in the History of Art. Emin refuses for women to be written out. The Doors further signify a new perspective The National Portrait Gallery have taken; since the refurbishment, 45% of the artworks feature women, compared to the measly 35% previously. Through their commission of Tracey Emin, the Gallery aimed to open its inclusivity and show themselves as a diverse and equal establishment, representing female artists who have long been neglected from the History of Art.
Cast into bronze from acrylic drawings, the doors are huge. Ghiberti’s doors depict scenes from the Old Testament, gilt with gold and surrounded by ornate foliage and depictions of prophets. Ghiberti has long been considered one of the masters of the Renaissance (anyone taking David Hemsoll’s modules will know), and through Emin’s use of bronze and nod to this influence, she enters herself into a dialogue of historic, and mostly male, history of art, transgressing beyond the boundaries of typical modern art. The Gates of Paradise are the doors to the Baptistery of San Giovanni, in Florence, a once major site for Catholics to be baptised. Now, it remains one of the must-see Basilica’s in Florence. By using the doors for inspiration, Emin establishes the Portrait Gallery as a site of importance, comparable to the importance of the Baptistery. She raises the connotations of fine art to a religious level.
Despite Emin being well established in her career as an artist, the connection between herself and Ghiberti through The Doors asserts Emin into a contemporary, Renaissance dialogue. Tracey Emin has long been one of my favourite artists, and The Doors only furthered my love for her.
7th June 2024
Cosima Denton Mill
BA History of Art
Golovine 